GASPARIN, Valérie Boissier, Countess de (1813-94). A French woman of letters, born at Geneva. She was the wife of Agénor, Count de Gasparin (1810-71) (q.v.). She lived a great part of her life in the Canton Vaud, Switzerland, and was a prolific writer, mostly on religious and social topics. In addition to a number of translations of English and American authors, she published Le mariage au point de vue chrétien (1842), a work which won the Montyon prize from the French Academy; Allons faire fortuneà Paris (1844); Un livre pour les femmesmariées (1845); Il y a des pauvres à Paris etailleurs (1846), which won the Montyon prize of the Academy; Quelques défauts des Chrétiensd'aujourd'hui (1853); Des corporationsmonastiques au sein du protestantisme (1855); Leshorizons prochains (1859); Les horizons célestes (1859); Vesper (1861); Les tristesses humaines (1863); and La lèpre sociale (1870).